Sagunto honours Yago Gómez for silver at national wushu championship
Sagunto City Council has recognised local athlete Yago Gómez for winning silver at the National Traditional Wushu Championship, on top of other podium finishes this year.
Sagunto City Council has once again put the spotlight on a resident of Puerto de Sagunto (coastal district): young athlete Yago Gómez, honoured this week for his recent silver medal at the National Traditional Wushu Championship. Competing for the Valencian Wushu Federation at the event held last June in Vinaròs, the athlete collected three results: silver in the overall category, another silver in the so-called "imitation styles" — named Mantis — and fourth place in the long-weapon category, known as Pu Dao.
Both disciplines have their own tradition within Chinese wushu. Imitation styles, like the one Yago Gómez practises, aim to copy the behaviour of different animals; in the case of the praying mantis, the technique focuses on fast, precise strikes with the arms. The Pu Dao, meanwhile, belongs to wushu's classic weapons catalogue: a long blade similar to a cavalry knife or a halberd, whose handling demands strength and full-body control.
Vinaròs was not the only highlight of the year for the Puerto de Sagunto athlete. Months earlier he made his debut wearing Spain's colours at the 17th Spring Dragon Wushu International Tournament in the Italian city of Catanzaro, a tournament that gathered around 500 competitors from thirty countries, where Yago Gómez took bronze in the long-weapon event. In April, he had already added silver at the Valencian Community's regional championship, held in Castelló de la Plana.
Behind these results lies a season marked by physical setbacks: the athlete has spent months recovering from an injury and is combining competition with rehabilitation. Even so, this year he took a step forward in his career by signing for Club Esportiu Wushu Náquera, after more than a decade training at the Thieulam Martial Arts School in his native Puerto de Sagunto, where he started practising at just four years old.
This is not the first time the council has honoured Yago Gómez: last summer he was already received in the same council chamber after becoming Spain's under-18 champion, also in empty-hand traditional wushu. On this second occasion, mayor Darío Moreno and sports councillor Javier Timón stressed the need to give disciplines like wushu the same visibility as team sports, and praised the young athlete's attitude in the face of his injuries. Yago Gómez himself thanked those closest to him for their support and is already looking ahead to his next big target: the World Championship in Shanghai. According to aytosagunto.es, with additional information from Wikipedia.